For this round, I wanted to cover players who were on the bubble, so I looked at the pairings to get an idea of which tables I could choose from. I picked the players I thought would have the most fun in coverage, but instead I got a Squadron mirror match, which is just above the Curve Sentinels mirror in terms of fun. Luckily, I chose correctly in the personality department and ended up with two guys who were ready to play with everything on the line. The winner would make the Top 8, and the loser would be playing in a PCQ on Sunday.

Gen won the coin flip and took odds. He began the game with a Joystick, which was bested by Yuuta’s Joystick with Thunder Jet. Gen fixed the problem by playing Flying Kick and getting the mutual stun.

Yuuta played Melissa Gold ◊ Songbird, Sonic Carapace to begin turn 2, which was met with the sound of Gen whiffing. Melissa safely stunned Joystick, and Yuuta was then able to send his own Joystick in unhindered, bringing Gen to 37.

Gen played Lady Lark, Skylark the following turn, which was answered by Yuuta’s Ape X, which searched up an Airskimmer. He then played an Airskimmer on both Ape X and Melissa Gold. Lady Lark stunned Ape X, making way for Joystick to slam into Melissa Gold with the help of a power-up and a Flying Kick, bringing Yuuta down to 41.

Turn 4 began with Yuuta peeling Golden Archer off the top of his deck and flashing it to me with a “Perfect!” and a big grin. He played the Archer and passed, only to see Hawkeye, Clinton Barton come down on the other side of the table. Hawkeye activated to stun Melissa, and Yuuta discarded another Airskimmer to send Golden Archer into a protected Joystick. He then powered-up his own Joystick and sent her into Lady Lark, bringing the scores down to 23-39 in his favor.

The top of the deck was again good to Yuuta, this time yielding him Answer the Call and Rocket Central. Gen was forced to play his own Golden Archer along with an Ape X to get a Thunder Jet, which was then equipped to Ape X. Yuuta played Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke from his row, replacing it and ending up with an empty hand. Gen looked at the board and thought about his options. Golden Archer and Ape X were sent in to attack Nuke with a power-up for Ape X and Other-Earth. Yuuta stunned Golden Archer in return. Lady Lark then attacked Golden Archer, who shot Gen for 6. Hawkeye stunned Melissa to turn off her Airskimmer, stunning Golden Archer. Yuuta then sent his Joystick into Ape X and used Panacea Potion to recover Albert Gains. The turn ended with Gen at 3 and Yuuta at 28. A turn 6 Genis-Vell ◊ Photon from the resource row prompted Gen to concede. Yuuta Takami wins and secures a spot in the Top 8!